heroesawakeningfandomcom-20200215-history
2011-01-30 - Threat Analysis and a Wager Which Shall Soon Be Regretted
The library once again has a royal visitor today, but today Elizraim's study is...a little different. Not music, this time. No, this time ey's gotten out quite a bit of material on weaponry. Guns, specifically. Ey's poring over a sort of encyclopedia of weaponry right now, staring at pictures of handguns, rifles, and the like, with a frown and a furrowed brow. Softly, "You're going to have people thinking you're going to go Columbine." From her tone, Terra is clearly teasing. "Let me help you with that, though?" Elizraim looks up at Terra, frowning. "I do not know your meaning," ey says, shaking eir head, and turns eir attention back to the text. "I am teaching myself to recognize these dangers...that is all. I wish to know the abilities of my enemy." Ey shudders. "Thus far, I am not encouraged." "Well, fortunately, most people who pick up guns..." Terra slips into a seat opposite. "Don't really know how to use them right." Elizraim nods. "The same can be said of many weapons. That does not remove the danger." Ey sighs. "Even a fool, with something of this power..." Ey looks down at one of the military rifles on the page. "However did mortals gain such power? We knew nothing of this." "Generally, a people will increase in power and knowledge over time, although sometimes they can be, like, set back by stuff." Terra looks at the rifle herself. "Be grateful energy weapons aren't in widespread use yet." "There exists something worse?" Elizraim says, a little loudly, as ey starts up from eir seat. Ey realizes it a moment later, and slowly settles back into eir place. "I...must count myself as lucky, then, that I did not encounter it." Terra Black nods. "The best way to deal with any kind of gun is to try and remove it from the equation somehow." Elizraim nods. "An unarmed opponent is ordinarily less dangerous than an armed opponent, of course. And, at close range, a ranged weapon is of little use." Ey frowns. "But this is hardly the same as a bow and arrow." A slight chuckle. "My, would my parents have been surprised..." Terra Black nods. "Unless, of course, the unarmed opponent is one trained to need no weapon...but then they wouldn't have a gun in the first place." Elizraim nods. "Of course...many fighters are still quite dangerous without weaponry, myself included." Or with a brick, in eir case. "Still...mortals are now more powerful than we could have ever dreamed. When we left you, you used swords, and arrows...you have created things quite beyond our imagination." Terra Black nods. "Fortunately, it's not just weapons. You've seen some of the other stuff humans can do these days, and most of it's pretty good." Elizraim hmphs. "I am still preparing my judgment on that matter. Particularly since quite a large amount of your technology appears to have begun to act against you...as is expected when you regularly manipulate forces you cannot fully comprehend." Terra Black frowns. "Whatever is going on with that, it's not normal. There are devices doing things they're not designed to be capable of." Elizraim hmphs. "Exactly. You mortals over-reached your ability, and did not understand what you yourselves had constructed. It is hardly a surprise that you have begun to lose control." Ey shakes eir head. "It has been contained thus far, but imagine...not your vehicles, but your weapons?" "I think we'll find it's not pure technological evolution." Terra studies Elizraim for a moment. "Something is going on. Possibly an attack...but what is happening isn't just 'science run amok'" Elizraim scowls. "Believe what you will. I'' saw the truth. Your creations have developed a will of their own." Ey crosses eir arms. "Together with your parent, I drove the effect back for a time. However, I fully expect it to continue. Such things, once unleashed, remain." Terra Black frowns a little bit. "I'll have to talk to father about it, then. Because...machines don't do that." Elizraim frowns, shaking eir head. "Well...it appears that, in truth, they ''do. The fact that something has not occurred before does not mean it will be avoided for all time." "My point is that something has to be causing it, it can't just be spontaneous. Human computer technology hasn't reached the point where sentience can spark yet. The machines here...can't just come alive. They aren't nearly good enough." Elizraim scowls. "And my point is that you mortals simply do not understand what is possible. You have unleashed your own danger. If you had maintained the old ways, as we did, you should have no troubles in this day." Terra Black glances around. Oddly? There's suddenly nobody in this part of the library. Telepaths. "You do realize that my father," she says finally. "Is not human. We have far more of an idea of what is and is not possible than most people on this planet." Elizraim shrugs. "Which is why I am certain your father will eventually come to understand the truth of what is happening, and that he shall seek to do what is proper by abandoning these dangers and returning to that which is perfectly reliable. He seems a very intelligent mortal, as do you. I believe that you shall eventually come to agree with me." Terra thinks about Shadowhold. Where she is not talking Elizraim for a little while yet. "At this point, if humanity abandoned high technology, a lot of people would die. You're only seeing one piece of the picture right now." Elizraim shrugs. "I am seeing all of the picture I presently wish to see." Ey smirks, looking quite self-assured. "I shall make you a deal. If you are so certain that your technology is not a mistake...I shall allow you mortals to prove this to me. If you overcome this trial and regain control of your technology, then I...I'' shall make an effort to learn to use one item of your choice. Worry not over your side of the wager...the knowledge that I was ''right shall satisfy me." Will arrives at the library later in the afternoon. He pauses in the door to shake of an umbrella wet with rain from a recent shower, then loosens his coat a little and heads for the section he's looking for. He pauses on his way there, catching a few familiar minds nearby. Grinning, he turns and heads for Terra and Elizraim. He shakes his head as he catches a bit of their conversation. "You know, Eli, I really wish you'd stop calling us 'Mortals.' For one thing... we're kinda not. And for another, it sounds a little rude." He rolls his eyes at Terra as he rounds a row of shelves and comes into view. Terra Black hrms. "One item of my choice." She can think of a few possibilities. "Well. Let's see what happens. Will...what do you know about the machines going crazy stuff?" Elizraim glares over at Will, clenching eir jaw. "I shall perhaps discuss whether the term applies to you and your family at another time, when you are not..." Ey grits eir teeth, and abandons that train of thought, looking away, and pulling the encyclopedia o' guns back over in front of em to flip a page or two and stare sullenly at a shotgun. Will arches an eyebrow at Elizraim. "Uhh... okaaay." With a shake of his head, he turns to Terra, "Sorry, sis. I don't know much of anything. I've been kinda distracted the last few." With a shrug, he grabs a nearby chair and takes a seat, leaning over in the process to peer at Elizraim's book, "Guns? I didn't really think that was your territory. Why the sudden interest?" "He managed to take himself to a gunfight a couple of days ago. No serious damage done, and I fixed it. So, he's trying to work out some better tactics against firearms." Terra doesn't seem too worried about Elizraim, does she. Elizraim frowns, nodding slightly, and looks at Will. "In order to save a mortal youth, I was forced to battle other mortals armed with...the term is handguns? Having never encountered such a thing..." Ey shivers. "I admit surprise that I managed to avoid so much as I did, and I came far closer to death than pleases me." Now both of Will's brows rise. "Wow, Eli. I'm glad you're ok." He smiles brightly at his sister then, "Good thing you were on hand, too." He leans back in his chair and glances around at the nearby books, "You guys learned anything about the weird technology? I heard a rumor that its connected to that UFO the Sentinels destroyed, you think its true?" "I think Elizraim thinks it's possessed by some kind of force. He says he and father sensed something. I haven't encountered a good example to check for myself, but I'd note there's nothing in this city close to going sentient on us." Terra seems quite calm. "And yeah. He only got scratched." Elizraim nods at Terra, and looks over at Will. "I detected power within the automobiles as I stopped them with the aid of your parent. It abandoned the vehicle when I gathered my own power and struck it. If there were no mind, there would have been no effect." "Hmm." Will stands, looking thoughtful. "Power, interesting. Could be someone controlling these things from a distance? Maybe someone without the ability to control what they're doing? Might explain the randomness of it all." He glances at the nearby shelves, then without another word disappears for a bit behind one, heading into the section on home renovations and construction. Terra Black hrms. "It could be a newly expressed mutant with a machine control capability," Terra notes. "Maybe the four of us...if we can track father down...could triangulate it to a source?" Elizraim crosses eir arms, slumping in eir chair a bit and glaring down at the table. "It did not feel that way. It felt as though the vehicles themselves possessed the power. I know the difference." "Really?" Will pops his head out from around the corner, then heads out with a small stack of books. "But the power left when you attacked them, how interesting." He returns to his chair and opens a book on renovating old buildings. "Maybe its some sort of ghost? Or a psychic resonance, something that can travel, that maybe lacks a body? Maybe its trying to find one that fits?" Terra Black hrms. "That's possible, although I'd almost..." Terra purses her lips. "So. We have an animating force...Elizraim, did it seem to be sentient to you or merely...animal or similar?" Elizraim frowns, though ey sits a little straighter again now. "Left or was destroyed. I am not certain which." Ey looks over at Terra, and then off to the side. "It seemed...perhaps more like an animal, or...perhaps a young child, as I think of it. Its actions made little sense, yet it seemed to fear me, and the warrior with me...enough that it stopped for short times as we held its attention." Terra Black nods. "So, probably not a ghost, then, as a ghost having that kind of power would be older, probably several lives under its belt and even if its most recent one was short..." Will begins to flip through his book. "Unless something really crazy happened when it died." He suggests, pausing to tilt the book to the side and study a diagram, "Could be alien, too. Either of you know of any races that have good relations with technology?" He laughs a little, making it a joke, and returns to his flipping. Elizraim shakes eir head at Terra. "I am familiar with spirits of the dead, as well as many others. This was not the same feeling. Furthermore...I am uncertain, but it felt as though each automobile were...in some manner...separate. Each vehicle had its own 'mind.'" Ey gives Will a bit of a glare. "Until my time here, all races I had met had the good sense to avoid such foolishness." Will laughs at the glare, "Aww, come on, Eli. Technology isn't that bad. Consider, if it weren't for Father's job which is all about technology, we wouldn't have been able to give you the life you've been living with us." He winks, then looks to Terra. "What is that expression? If looks could kill? I think Elizraim may be wishing it were true!" Chuckling, he flips past another page of his book. "Will..." Terra tries to warn. By removing the things affecting his confidence, whoever did this is turning him into an ***hole. "There are plenty of aliens that have more advanced technology than we do. And, by the way, if you know its an alien spaceship, it's not a UFO any more." Elizraim hmphs. "We are not here to discuss the supposed and extremely unlikely merits of technology, and I have no desire to end your life, although I admit the thought of perhaps kicking you in that spot between your legs did cross my mind." Will frowns curiously at Terra. Then he shrugs, and again turns back to his book. The book is dropped into his lap, however, when Elizraim speaks up. "(Geez!)" He exclaims, briefly reverting to Japanese, "I'm sorry I said anything. There." He takes a deep breath, then picks up his book again, looking pretty angry now. Terra Black lets out a short, sharp breath. "If it is the alien...craft...the Sentinels blew it up, but..." Elizraim actually looks quite satisfied for a few moments, but then frowns, looking away. "...I apologize." Ey actually said it. Very, very, very quietly, but ey did say it. Ey looks over at Terra, and nods. "I do not pretend to understand what occurred involving this...craft...which was destroyed. I will make no guesses regarding it." Will continues to scowl at his book for a while before sighing. The anger starts to recede with the sigh, and he eventually pulls a notebook out of a pocket, in which he starts making notes from the book. "But if a small enough portion survived, or if the craft had some sort of mind... " He continues from Terra's thought. "True, though, conjecture won't get us far right now." "I just had one very, very nasty thought. Hold on. I'll be right back." She jumps up, vanishing in the direction of the science stacks. Elizraim frowns quite deeply as Terra jumps up and leaves. She left em alone with crazypossessed-Will! That's mean! Ey looks over at Will for a few moments, and finally sighs deeply and turns eir attention back to eir book for a few moments. "I...am trying to help," ey finally says, softly. Will raises a brow at his sister, then shrugs. "Sounds ominous." He continues to write, pausing only briefly when Elizraim speaks up. "You were pretty helpful." He offers, "Telling us about the power you felt and all. And you're right, like I said. If we try to guess too much, we could end up on the wrong path in a big way, which does no one any good. Hopefully whatever Terra has can help us find the right one." He smiles. Terra Black comes back with a book. "It's possible. I hope I'm wrong, but we might be dealing with rogue nanotechnology. In which case...the only good way to kill it I know of...would be to EMP New York. Let's try and think of a better one." Category:Logs